1. Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms in hot water until they’re soft – about 20 minutes – and then slice them. (You can omit these, or use fresh mushrooms, but the meaty texture of the reconstituted mushrooms is pretty great in this dish.) Don’t discard the water.

2. Put the first nine things into pot: fusilli, tomatoes, onion, garlic, chopped/reconstituted mushrooms, red pepper flakes, basil, couple swirls of olive oil, salt, pepper. (The original recipe calls for linguine, but I think fusilli works better as it holds more of the sauce and flavours. Easier to eat with the other ingredients, too.)

3. Add about three or 3.5 cups of liquid for 2 cups fusilli. The original recipe calls for water, but I used about 2 cups of the mushroom broth left over from soaking the dried shiitakes, a cup of crushed tomatoes and about half a cup more plain water. I think the crushed tomatoes give it a better texture.

4. Bring to a boil over high heat and carefully stir everything without breaking the tomatoes or pasta. When it’s at a rolling boil, turn it down just a little bit and keep watching and stirring. The thing to note here is that the pasta will be done in 10-12 minutes, and you’re trying to time it so that most of the water is gone by the time the pasta’s done. If 8-9 mins has passed and it looks like you’ve still got a ton of liquid in there, pour a little out. This would also be the time to cook anything else (such as meatballs) you want to add to the final dish.

…and that’s it. I lined a bowl with spinach and served the pasta over it. (Wilted spinach = secret vegetables.) Top with parmesan and more fresh basil. (I added crumbled bacon and meatballs.)

So I think I spent like $60 and four hours trying to replicate a magical seafood chowder I had for $6 at Bar Crudo in San Francisco. (Short tangent: I don’t even like chowder, or creamy soups in general, but good lawd. This soup was amazing. In my fruitless attempt to Google the recipe, I came across a number of posts from other people raving about it too. If you are ever in the area, you must try it. Doesn’t hurt that it’s part of Bar Crudo’s happy hour menu, which also includes $1 oysters and mussels.) I didn’t quite land it, but was still pretty happy with it. Shoot for the moon, right?

The recipe is below, but I should note that with all of these experimental dishes, I eyeball and most things and adjust to taste, which is really part of the joy of cooking.

2. In a large pot, saute chopped up bacon until it looks about half done. Add chopped up onion and saute until bacon is done and onions soft.

3. Sift in flour, stir, then add the fish broth. (If you can’t find fish broth, use a mixture of vegetable broth and whatever liquids you have leftover from, say, steaming the mussels.) Be sure to scrape up any fond — that’s the brown bits of goodness stuck on the bottom of the pan — you may have from cooking the bacon.

4. When that’s boiling, add the potatoes and cover until they’re almost done.

5. Add cayenne, nutmeg, milk and cream. Simmer until this is hot and bubbling.

6. Add all seafood except for fish and cook for a few minutes. Add fish just before everything is done.

7. Season with salt, pepper and lime juice to taste. (I like to add a little lime juice to each bowl after serving.)

Like the last recipe, roasted duck is another very easy dish to make that looks like you slaved for hours over it. I made one for Thanksgiving and it was by far the easiest dish of them all — easier than the vegetables. Because duck is so fatty, and nearly all dark meat — which is infinitely tastier than white meat — you really don’t have to do anything to make it taste good. This recipe, for a basic roasted duck, may possibly be the easiest fancypants dinner recipe ever. It will also leave you with duck fat — liquid happiness — for future dishes.

2.) Remove the giblets from inside the duck. Sometimes these will come in a neat little plastic package, sometimes they’ll be loose. Some people save these for soups and pates; I throw them away because they terrify me. Rinse the duck and pat dry with paper towels.

3.) Sprinkle salt, pepper and paprika evenly all over the entire duck

4.) Either score it (lightly cutting the skin in a diamond pattern) or poke it all over with a fork, but don’t go all the way through. You just need to pierce through the skin so the (sweeeeet, sweet) fat can escape.

5.) Put it into a roasting pan with a rack, so your duck’s not sitting directly in the pan. (If this happens, it will basically boil in its own fat. Might sound kind of tasty, but the bottom will be a soggy mess. If you don’t have a rack, you can place the duck on a bunch of carrots and nugget potatoes.)

6.) Roast it for about two hours, turning it and basting it with its own fat twice. (I did this once at the 45-minute mark and again at around 1:30.)

* SAVE THE FAT! This stuff is heavenly. Just strain it — a cheesecloth works well if you have one; a normal strainer if you don’t — and store it in a jar. It saves in the fridge for months. You can use it for mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, searing meats. It’s also not as bad for you as you might think, ranking somewhere between butter and olive oil.

Rack of lamb, served with bacon mashed potatoes and salad with lemon and avocado

Rack of lamb is one of those dishes that sound fancy and expensive, but is actually pretty affordable and easy to make. At the store today, there were a number of frozen ones, each seven-rib package ranging from $7 to about $18. The package I picked was $13. Not quite sure of the difference.

3. Season rack with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil (this is where I used duck fat instead) in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sear rack of lamb for 1 to 2 minutes on all sides. Set aside for a few minutes. Brush rack of lamb with mustard. Roll in the bread crumb mixture until evenly coated. Cover the ends of the bones with foil to prevent charring.

4. Arrange the rack bone side down on a baking sheet lined with foil and roast for 18-20 minutes. Take it out of the oven and tent it with foil for about five minutes to let all the juices absorb back in. Carve.

* For the mashed potatoes, I used two medium potatoes, a couple tablespoons of butter, salt, pepper, dried rosemary and chives, a pinch of nutmeg and 3-4 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 C
2. Prepare macaroni according to box directions, drain and set aside
3. Melt butter over low heat, stir in flour.
4. Add milk, stirring often until thick.
5. Stir in most of the cheese — maybe just under 2 cups — leaving behind just enough to cover the tops later.
6. Stir in paprika and dijon mustard — the secrets to excellent mac ‘n’ cheese, IMO.
7. Add macaroni to the cheese sauce.
8. Lightly grease a muffin tin (or ramekins) with cooking spray and line with two slices of ham, being careful not to tear them:

Just making four here. Recipe should yield six.

9. Carefully spoon the mac ‘n’ cheese into the cups:

10. Top with cheese, Panko breadcrumbs and paprika:

11. Bake for about 20 minutes, checking frequently for darkened edges around the 15-20 minute mark.

12. When they’re ready, let them cool for five or 10 minutes. Garnish with fresh chopped chives if you want ’em looking pretty.